


Moving Van

by SamCyberCat



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-08
Updated: 2018-10-08
Packaged: 2019-07-28 04:47:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16234493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SamCyberCat/pseuds/SamCyberCat
Summary: Sousuke helps Makoto get ready to leave for Tokyo and, as always, the two of them are awkward around each other. But they're making progress and that's what matters to them.





	Moving Van

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Love Free! Week, Day Two, Prompt A: When did everything change? Like many SouMako fans, I was over the moon to see the scene of Sousuke and Makoto talking on the phone together in DTF. It got me thinking about when they might've exchanged numbers, so here's a short fic about one scenario where that could've happened.

“Look, Makoto's staring...!”

Ran hissing that was what snapped Makoto out of his trance. He shook his head and glared at her, hissing right back and hoping that Sousuke couldn't hear them.

“I am not, okay? I'm just... grateful that he came to help,” he insisted.

But his argument was weak. Both of the twins descended into giggles and that did catch Sousuke's attention. When he turned to look at them, Makoto stood in front of Ren and Ran, as if trying to hide them from view. This obviously didn't work.

“Is everything okay?” Sousuke called across.

“It's fine. These two were just running along,” Makoto replied.

There was an edge of finality to his voice that said the twins better run along, but they were past the age where Makoto could strike any fear into them. They all knew that Makoto was a big softie and Ran in particular was getting much bolder with each passing year. If the twins chose to stick around to tease him, there was nothing that Makoto could do to stop that.

So he was grateful when they showed him mercy.

“Yeah, looks like you got all the packing covered already, so it's boring just hanging around,” Ran said. Then she leaned past Makoto and waved; “See you later, Sousuke!”

“C-come back soon...” Ren added, leaning around Makoto's other side.

Ren's face was a little red and as the twins disappeared back into the house, Ran punched his arm and giggled loudly. Did Ren have a crush on Sousuke? Not that Makoto could blame anyone who did. Heck, the more time Makoto spent around him, the more he was convinced that he had a crush on Sousuke himself. Those fleeting feelings and the way Makoto's heart raced when Sousuke so much as looked at him... it made Makoto feel like a damn high schooler all over again. But then, Makoto was about to start his first year at university, so he'd only just graduated from being a high schooler. Maybe he was still allowed to have these embarrassing feelings. The exact feelings that had made today... difficult, to say the least.

Still, it'd be rude if he left Sousuke standing there. Now that the twins were safely out of the way, Makoto walked across. He looked into the back of the moving van and whistled.

“That seems like all of it. I had no idea that I had that much stuff,” he said, “Thank you for helping me with it, Sousuke. This would've taken much longer without you.”

Sousuke rubbed the back of his head and didn't meet Makoto's eyes when he replied; “It was nothing. Everyone's getting ready to head off, so the least I can do is help.”

“Still, it's very kind of you,” Makoto insisted, “Hopefully you'll be joining us soon enough. I'd like that.”

Normally Sousuke would grunt something dismissive in response to those kind of words, but it seemed as if the addition of 'I'd like that' disarmed him. Ever since the Samezuka culture festival, Sousuke had been hanging around with their group of friends a lot more. It was nice to see Sousuke getting to know other people and expanding his circle of friends, especially since Rin had left for Australia. It wouldn't do for Sousuke to be on his own... Part of Makoto was sad to be moving to Tokyo for that reason, but then he reminded himself that Nagisa, Rei, Gou and many of Sousuke's friends from Samezuka would still be here. Sousuke wouldn't be alone.

Even so, Makoto felt sad to be leaving him.

“Maybe I'll come visit,” Sousuke said.

“I'd like that,” replied Makoto, because he honestly would, “But I know that you've got a lot on your mind right now. If something turns up and you can't come, don't worry about letting me down. I'll understand.”

Sousuke getting better was the most important part. The last thing Makoto wanted was to stand in the way of that.

“I don't know what might happen,” Sousuke admitted, “But even if I can't come to Tokyo, I'd still like to keep in touch with you.”

“Sure! That'd be great,” Makoto replied, giving Sousuke one of his sunny Tachibana smiles.

The smile was too much for Sousuke. Not even Makoto could ignore the way that Sousuke's face suddenly burned bright red.

“It... um, it'd be easier to talk to you if I... had your number,” stammered Sousuke, “Then I could call you whenever...”

“Wait, have we seriously not traded numbers yet? Sorry, Sousuke! I guess we always just talk on the group chats, so I didn't realise,” Makoto said, “But it'd be nice to talk as just the two of us sometimes, so sure. Pass me your phone and I'll put it in.”

Looking slightly more nervous than usual, Sousuke fished his phone out of his pocket and gave it to Makoto, who went into 'add contacts' and started typing his number in.

“If you ever want to talk about anything... just give me a call,” said Sousuke, “Any time of the day or night, it doesn't matter. I'll make time for you.”

“Don't tell me that. I'm a terrible night owl, you'll be getting calls from me well past midnight if you're not careful,” Makoto replied. He finished typing in his number and passed the phone back to Sousuke; “There you go.”

“Thanks,” said Sousuke, “And seriously, just call whenever. I'll be glad to know how you're getting on in Tokyo.”

“I'll give you regular updates,” Makoto promised, “But the same back to you – keep me in the loop. I'll only worry if I don't know how it's going.”

He reached out and put a hand on Sousuke's arm. For a moment, they both stared at each other, not quite knowing how to react. The blush on Sousuke's face that made Makoto's ears turn red in response. But then a shriek of Ran's laughter from an upstairs window broke the spell, causing them both to jerk away – the twins had been spying on them the whole time!

“Cut it out, Ran!” Makoto called up.

All she did was pull her head back into the window, her laughter dying away only slightly as both of the twins ran off. Makoto looked back at Sousuke, feeling terrible about that.

“Sorry... I promise she doesn't mean any harm,” Makoto mumbled.

“It's fine. I guess we do look pretty ridiculous sometimes, don't we?” said Sousuke. He nervously tried to laugh it off, but that died out quickly.

Makoto shrugged; “Maybe we do look ridiculous, but I don't mind. I'm glad that I have you in my life, Sousuke...”

“If you keep saying stuff like that, you really are gonna kill me,” Sousuke replied.

That caught Makoto off-guard. He stared across at Sousuke, trying to read what he meant, but coming out with nothing.

“Sousuke, what do you-”

But Sousuke cut him off by reaching across to punch his shoulder, a confident smirk masking the nerves that both of them were feeling.

“Don't worry about it. Just keep being you, Makoto,” Sousuke replied, “I'm sure everyone will thank you for that.”

But especially you?

...That was what Makoto wanted to ask, but it didn't feel like the right time just yet. Not when Makoto would be leaving Iwatobi before the end of the day. Still, he knew that no matter what happened, Sousuke would be part of his future. So neither of them needed to be in a rush. They'd go at their own pace.

“I'll do my best,” Makoto said instead, “I know that we both will.”

“You got that right,” replied Sousuke, “Well... I'd better head off. You're leaving after lunch, right?”

“Yeah, we want to get there before dark if we can,” said Makoto, “But you don't have to rush away so soon. You can join us for lunch if you like? If you can deal with the twins being difficult. And don't worry, I promise that my dad's cooking is a bit better than mine.”

“Your cooking is fine,” Sousuke lied, because Makoto knew it was a lie, “But sure. I'll stick around. Never turned down free food yet.”

“After all you've done to help today, it's the least I could do,” said Makoto.

With that, the two of them pulled the shutter down on the moving van and headed back into the house. Makoto felt glad that he was going to spend his last day in this town with his family and Sousuke. There was something that seemed right about that.


End file.
